Christmas Is Johnny Farnham
Encyclopedia
Christmas Is... Johnny Farnham (later released as Memories Of Christmas) is a studio album of Christmas song
s recorded by Australian pop
singer Johnny Farnham
and released on EMI Records
in December 1970. The single, "Christmas Happy", was also released in December.
The album was re-released as Memories Of Christmas on the 13th November 1995 and again on the 6th December 1997 with different covers and an altered track list each time.
"Sadie (The Cleaning Lady)
" released in 1967. Selling 180 000 copies in Australia, "Sadie (The Cleaning Lady)" was the highest selling single by an Australian artist of the decade. His first Christmas song
was a non-album single, "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus", in November 1968. A cover
of B. J. Thomas
' "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head
" was released in November 1969 and peaked at #1 for seven weeks in January–March 1970. After his third album, Looking Through A Tear
was released in July 1970, a non-album single, "Comic Conversation" was released in October and peaked at #10 on the Go-Set National Top 60 Singles Chart. Farnham recorded his fourth album as Christmas Is... Johnny Farnham, it was released in December and contained Christmas songs but did not chart on the Go-Set National Top 20 Albums Chart. One of the songs, "Good Time Christmas", was written by Farnham. The single, "Christmas Happy", was also released in December.
Christmas music
Christmas music comprises a variety of genres of music normally performed or heard around the Christmas season, which tends to begin in the months leading up the actual holiday and end in the weeks shortly thereafter.-Early:...
s recorded by Australian pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
singer Johnny Farnham
John Farnham
John Peter Farnham, AO, formerly billed as Johnny Farnham , is an English-born Australian pop singer. He was a teen pop idol from 1964 to 1979, and has since forged a career as an adult contemporary singer. His career has mostly been as a solo artist although he briefly replaced Glenn Shorrock as...
and released on EMI Records
EMI Records
EMI Records is the flagship record label founded by the EMI company in 1972 and launched in January 1973 as the successor to its Columbia label. The EMI label was launched worldwide...
in December 1970. The single, "Christmas Happy", was also released in December.
The album was re-released as Memories Of Christmas on the 13th November 1995 and again on the 6th December 1997 with different covers and an altered track list each time.
Background
Johnny Farnham's first #1 single on the Go-Set National Singles Charts was the novelty songNovelty song
A novelty song is a comical or nonsensical song, performed principally for its comical effect. Humorous songs, or those containing humorous elements, are not necessarily novelty songs. The term arose in Tin Pan Alley to describe one of the major divisions of popular music. The other two divisions...
"Sadie (The Cleaning Lady)
Sadie (The Cleaning Lady)
"Sadie " was Australian pop singer Johnny Farnham's first solo single. The novelty song was released in November 1967 and was #1 on the Go-Set National Singles Charts for five weeks in early 1968 . It was the largest selling single in Australia by an Australian artist in the 1960s...
" released in 1967. Selling 180 000 copies in Australia, "Sadie (The Cleaning Lady)" was the highest selling single by an Australian artist of the decade. His first Christmas song
Christmas music
Christmas music comprises a variety of genres of music normally performed or heard around the Christmas season, which tends to begin in the months leading up the actual holiday and end in the weeks shortly thereafter.-Early:...
was a non-album single, "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus", in November 1968. A cover
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of B. J. Thomas
B. J. Thomas
Billy Joe "B. J." Thomas is an American popular singer known for his chart-topping hits in the 1960s and 1970s—appearing on the pop, adult contemporary, country and Hot 100 charts.-Career:...
' "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head
Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head
"Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" is B. J. Thomas's #1 song, written by Hal David and Burt Bacharach for the 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. It won an Academy Award for Best Original Song. David and Bacharach also won Best Original Score. It was recorded in seven takes, after...
" was released in November 1969 and peaked at #1 for seven weeks in January–March 1970. After his third album, Looking Through A Tear
Looking Through a Tear
Looking Through A Tear is the third studio album by Australian pop singer Johnny Farnham, it was released in Australia by EMI Records in July 1970. Farnham's covers of Harry Nilsson's "One", and B. J. Thomas' "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head" were released as singles, and helped to propel the...
was released in July 1970, a non-album single, "Comic Conversation" was released in October and peaked at #10 on the Go-Set National Top 60 Singles Chart. Farnham recorded his fourth album as Christmas Is... Johnny Farnham, it was released in December and contained Christmas songs but did not chart on the Go-Set National Top 20 Albums Chart. One of the songs, "Good Time Christmas", was written by Farnham. The single, "Christmas Happy", was also released in December.
Track listing
- "Santa Claus Is Coming To TownSanta Claus Is Coming to Town"Santa Claus is Coming to Town" is a Christmas song. It was written by John Frederick Coots and Haven Gillespie, and was first sung on Eddie Cantor's radio show in November 1934....
" (J.F. CootsJ. Fred CootsJohn Frederick Coots was an American songwriter. He wrote over 700 songs.He is most famous for the song "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town", a song that became one of the biggest best sellers in American music history....
, H. GillespieHaven GillespieJames Lamont "Haven" Gillespie was an American Tin Pan Alley composer and lyricist. He was the writer of "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" as well as "You Go to My Head", "Honey", "By the Sycamore Tree", "That Lucky Old Sun", "Breezin' Along With The Breeze", "Right or Wrong," "Beautiful Love",...
) - 3:14 - "Christmas Is" (P. FaithPercy FaithPercy Faith was a Canadian-born American bandleader, orchestrator, composer and conductor, known for his lush arrangements of pop and Christmas standards. He is often credited with creating the "easy listening" or "mood music" format which became staples of American popular music in the 1950s and...
, S. Maxwell) - 2:58 - "The Ringing Reindeer" (G. Skoglund) - 3:10
- "Little Drummer BoyLittle Drummer Boy"The Little Drummer Boy," originally known as "Carol of the Drum," is a popular Christmas song written by the American classical music composer/teacher Katherine Kennicott Davis in 1941. It was recorded 1955 by the Trapp Family Singers and further popularized by a 1958 recording by the Harry...
" (K.K. Davis, H.V. Onorati, H. Simeone) - 3:42 - "Jingle BellsJingle Bells"Jingle Bells" is one of the best-known and commonly sung winter songs in the world. It was written by James Lord Pierpont and published under the title "One Horse Open Sleigh" in the autumn of 1857...
" (J.L. PierpontJames Pierpont (musician)James Lord Pierpont was an American songwriter, arranger, organist, and composer, best known for writing and composing Jingle Bells in 1857, originally entitled "The One Horse Open Sleigh". He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and died in Winter Haven, Florida...
) - 2:49 - "Good Time Christmas" (J. FarnhamJohn FarnhamJohn Peter Farnham, AO, formerly billed as Johnny Farnham , is an English-born Australian pop singer. He was a teen pop idol from 1964 to 1979, and has since forged a career as an adult contemporary singer. His career has mostly been as a solo artist although he briefly replaced Glenn Shorrock as...
) - 2:28 - "Everything Is BeautifulEverything Is Beautiful"Everything is Beautiful" is a song by Ray Stevens. It has appeared on many of Stevens' albums, including one named after the song, and has become a pop standard and common in religious performances. The children heard singing the chorus of the song, using the hymn, "Jesus Loves the Little...
" (R. StevensRay StevensRay Stevens is an American country music, pop singer-songwriter who has become known for his novelty songs.-Early career:...
) - 3:50 - "White ChristmasWhite Christmas (song)"White Christmas" is an Irving Berlin song reminiscing about an old-fashioned Christmas setting. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the version sung by Bing Crosby is the best-selling single of all time, with estimated sales in excess of 50 million copies worldwide.Accounts vary as...
" (I. BerlinIrving BerlinIrving Berlin was an American composer and lyricist of Jewish heritage, widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in American history.His first hit song, "Alexander's Ragtime Band", became world famous...
) - 3:55 - "The First Noel" (traditional, arranged by D. GilbertDavies GilbertDavies Gilbert FRS was a British engineer, author, and politician. He was elected to the Royal Society on 17 November 1791 and served as President of the Royal Society from 1827 to 1830....
) - 3:08 - "Silent NightSilent Night"Silent Night" is a popular Christmas carol. The original lyrics of the song "Stille Nacht" were written in Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria, by the priest Father Joseph Mohr and the melody was composed by the Austrian headmaster Franz Xaver Gruber...
" (J. MohrJosef MohrJoseph Mohr, sometimes spelt Josef was an Austrian Roman Catholic priest and composer, who wrote the words to the Christmas carol "Silent Night".-Biography:...
, F. Gruber, translated by J.F. YoungJohn Freeman YoungJohn Freeman Young , translator of the Christmas hymn Silent Night, became the second bishop of Florida in 1867. He had earlier served as an ecumenical envoy to the Russian Orthodox Church.-References:...
) - 2:50 - "There's No Place Like HomeHome! Sweet Home!"Home! Sweet Home!" is a song that has remained well-known for over 150 years. Adapted from American actor and dramatist John Howard Payne's 1823 opera Clari, Maid of Milan, the song's melody was composed by Englishman Sir Henry Bishop with lyrics by Payne...
" (H. Bishop, J.H. PayneJohn Howard PayneJohn Howard Payne was an American actor, poet, playwright, and author who had most of his theatrical career and success in London. He is today most remembered as the creator of "Home! Sweet Home!", a song he wrote in 1822 that became widely popular in the United States, Great Britain, and the...
) - 3:11 - "Little Boy Dear" (F. Vaz) - 3:38
- "It Must Be Getting Close To Christmas" (S. Cahn, J. van Heusen) - 3:21
- "Christmas Happy" (T. LeonettiTommy LeonettiTommy Leonetti was an American pop singer-songwriter and actor of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. In Australia his most famous song was "My City of Sydney" and was used by the Australian TV channel ATN7 in Sydney for station identification into the 1980s...
, A. Kitson) - 2:28